Free State of Torbury
: Not to be confused with the capital of the Free State. For the capital, see Torbury City, Torbury. The Free State of Torbury (Traditional Chinese: 多比利自由地區), or officially known as The Free State of Torbury of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas (September 2016 population 956,018) is an autonomous free state under the governance of Nicholasland. Located to the west of the City of Watersauga, the Watersauga Harbour is the lifeline of economy of the free state. The Free State is known as the first autonomous state to implement full public transit use throughout urban areas of the state. Alternative driving days are strictly enforced, and citizens, unless not in the serviced area of public transit, are all expected to use public transit to navigate through the free state. Etymology Torbury is a portmanteau of Toronto and Sudbury, the two cities that were first settled and established in the area. History The land was first explored and developed when the City of Watersauga continues to grow. When the city continues to grow, it demands more space to develop, and thus, two satellite cities, located about 500 km west from the City of Old Watersauga, Watersauga were created along the Toronto-Sudbury River (now Torbury River). The two satellite cities, facing each other on the Torbury River, were named Toronto and Sudbury in 1853. Both the cities developed rapidly, and by the early 1900s, Toronto-Sudbury forms a metropolitan area of about 30,000 people. Branching from this city is the Toronto-Sudbury Highway (now demolished), which gives way to develop other cities near the metropolitan area. These "other cities" become major urban centres of the free state today. Until 1922, the metropolitan area and the cities along the Toronto-Sudbury Highway were self-governing. There were no higher state to govern them except the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, which gives its governing locale autonomous governance. In 1925, this topic is hotly debated in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas parliament, whether to directly govern this collection of cities under the same democratic system as with other non-autonomous states in the Imaginary Land. In 1928, the City of Watersauga offers to directly govern it. A referendum was to occur in 1929, and the majority of the citizens (approximately 71% of the total population) in the collection of cities do not agree of that, as they do not feel belonging to Watersauga, claiming that the collection of cities are located too far from Watersauga. Due to the local voice of autonomous self-governance, the King of the Imaginary Land granted the collection of cities to form a free state, giving all citizens within the free state for self-governance, yet still under the sovereignty from the Imaginary Land. In September 1929, the rough boundaries were drafted for the free state, bordered by the Township of Hillden to the northwest, Outpost of Portas do Cerco (now Appleby) to the northeast, City of Torton to the southeast, and Outpost of Green Bay (now Bay City) to the southwest. In the same year, the King reorganizes the administrative districts and cities within the proposed free state, grouping the Cities of Toronto and Sudbury into one, becoming the City of Torbury, and due to its large population of roughly 40,000 then, it is appointed as the capital and the seat of the free state. The Free State was established on January 1, 1930, with the King of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, the first prime minister of the free state, and the first governor of the free state, holding the establishment ceremony in the Capital Office on Horizontal Axis Road. During the post-war era, all cities within the Imaginary Lands experienced rapid growth, especially the Cities of Torbury, Pinecross, and Torton, along with their immediate suburbs. Growth was rapidly become an unmanageable problem to planners and commuters within these cities, and in 1953, the government of the Free State passes the "Act of Sustainable and Long-Term Development of the Torbury-Pinecross-Torton Corridor of 1953", which for the first time, classifies the towns and cities across the Free State priorities of development, giving birth to the terms to "First-Line Cities", "Second-Line Towns", and "Third-Line Townships" to illustrate the priority of development. This gave way to many infrastructure projects across the Free State and a sophisticated transit system operated by the Human Transit Corporation, a transit agency that serves the entire free-state transit routes under a Public-Private Partnership (P3) agreement. In 1962, the Act was amended to better suit the growth of the region. Despite of violent objections, the government proposes alternative driving days and mandatory public transit use, the first of many sovereign states on the globe. The act was passed on January 15, 1962, and was immediately put into place on February 18, 1962. However, with this violent imposition of the use of public transit, the democratic socialist government was eliminated through a referendum and interference by the United Nations. Beginning from 1964, the government of Torbury, and a democratic liberalism government took place. The free state has maintained free trade and freedom of speech through these years. Along with the political peace, population growth was steady since 1962, reaching 400,000 in the early 1990s, reaching almost a million in 20 years of time. The free state's population is considered growing at an exponential rate. Geography The Free State is divided into two halves by a series of bays and harbours. These bays and harbours are a continuation of the large waterbody of the neighbouring City of Watersauga (Watersauga Harbour), covering as much as 30% of the total lands of the Free State. From west to east, the major bays are the Green Bay, West Bay, Central Bay (or Pinecross Harbour), and East Bay. Much of the settlements in the Free State (except the City of Torbury) is along the harbour. Much of the Free State is in lowlands, with an average altitude of about 70 m. There are some notable higher grounds away from the harbour, including the Green Bay Highlands (south of Bay City), Torton Highlands (west of Torton), Mallichester Highlands (near Mallichester and south of Royal Plains), and Mountchester Hill (in Mountchester, some of the highland areas reach into the northern portion of the City of Torbury). There are also major inland lakes, serving as sources of freshwater, with the largest of all, Lake Appleby. Flora The Free State has some of the strictest deforestation rules. With legislation, approximately 20% of all urban areas are still forested. Much of the Free State has not been deforested, and is populated with a wide variety of flora species, including fir, maple, mountain fir, palm, poplar, willow, red pine, shunter, birch, among many other variance of bushes and florals. While much of the state is protected from logging activities, through natural environment and limited logging activities, forested areas near the Green Bay Highlands and the Torton Highlands have experienced a forest degeneration. Government and Politics Free State of Torbury is one of the rare few states that are on the right of the political spectrum. The free state formerly operates on a democratic socialism, while through intervention by the people and the United Nations, this is slowly shifted to a democratic liberalism system. While some government service are owned and operated by private companies, others are continued to be owned and operated by the public. In the current system of government, each citizen is allotted votes to vote for their candidates, and a new government is elected every 5 years. The free state is divided into municipalities and unincorporated areas (areas which are not designated as a part of a municipality), and the local government is also elected every 5 years. Demography The free state's abundance of natural resources is fueling its population growth, and this growth is especially prominent in its primary cores of urban areas of the colony. In September 2013, the free state has a population of over 970,000, and the free state is expecting to exceed its first million population mark some time in the first quarter of 2014. The free state recorded its first decrease in population in 2016. Administrative Divisions The Free State is divided into five circuits (Traditional Chinese: 道, also known as "provinces" or "do", pronounced as doe): Torbury-Do (The Capital "Do"), Pinecross-Do, Torton-Do, Sepulchral-Do, and Bay-Do. In addition, though unofficially, for planning purposes, municipalities are also classified as first, second, and third lines to illustrate development priority. Most of the population scatter in the three largest cities: Torbury City, Pinecross, and Torton, and its immediate suburbs. * Sources: Statistics and Census Department of Torbury (2013) Economy Since the free state maintains a high degree of free trade, commercial activities are especially prominent in the state, especially in major commercial hubs (First Line Cities). These commercial activities form a majority part of the economy in the state, trading in the state's currency, the Torbury Mun. There is also a stock exchange located in the City of Torbury. In addition, the free state is also heavily industrialized. A variety of manufacturing and refining plants are located and scattered throughout the state. In addition, there are multiple industrial parks near major urban areas, providing a major job sources to the residents in these major urban areas. The manufactured products, ranging from electronics to processed food products, are exported worldwide. Resources are also harvested, such as limited logging activities, freshwater resources, naturally growing fruits in parts of the region. These are all exported worldwide and throughout the Imaginary Land as well. Transportation Private transportation (i.e. private vehicles) are quite rare due to their high prices and the strict laws that limit their uses within the region (see Alternative to Driving Act, Torbury). Public transportation is provided by Human Transit Corporation, which operates over 100 lines of bus routes, and featuring several branded services, such as SPRINT (Subway and Bus Rapid Transit in the city of Torbury), pineWay (Subway in Pinecross), tTram (light rail transit in Torton and periphery), speedBus (Bus Rapid Transit in Royal Plains), and mTrain (Intercity train services across the region). Infrastructure Culture Languages * Torbury